Athletic shoe



Oct. 24, 1939. 1. SHAPIRO ATHLETIC SHOE Filed Oct. 11, 1935 Patented Oct. 24, 1939 UNITEDLISTATES ATHLETIC snonf Isadore Shapiro, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The.

Athletic Shoe Company, Chicago, 111., a corpo ration of Illinois Application October 11, 1935, Serial No. 44,500

4 Claims.

My invention relates to athletic shoes and has to do more particularly with cleated shoes, such as are used in various games such as football, base ball, track, golf, etc., as well as for 5 mountain climbing. Shoes embodying my invention are also of special value for walking on ice or otherislippery surfaces, and find an important application in connection'with logging and other activities where a sure grip on the ground or other surface is desired.

A particular object of my invention is to 'provide a shoe having detachable cleats or tread members, said shoe being so designed as to be especially simple in construction, inexpensive to fabricate, and highly efficient, whereby the cleats or tread members will be difiicult to'remove by accident or in'ordinary use but may be readily detached and replaced'when desired. I

In general, an object of my invention'is to 20 provide an improved athletic shoe which will be entirely satisfactory for thepurposes desired.

It has been the practice in thepast to' provide athletic shoes with steel plates attachedto' or embedded in the 'sole thereof and also with'tread members 'detachably secured to the 'sole. How ever, it has been considered necessaryheretofore to provide special means for "attaching'the' tread members to the sole." Thus, for exampleyin 'Sternaman Patent No.'.1,531,764, granted March 30 31, 1925, interiorly threaded studs are inserted in the-sole of the shoe and the treads are screwed to these studs. Because of danger of the studs loosening and pushing up into the wearers foot, additional clamping devices were'sugge'sted, as shown 'in Hart Patent No. 1,025,087, granted April 30, 1912. Again, in Riddell Patent No. 1,602,453, granted October 12, 1926, the shoe sole is provided with a substantially inflexible steel plate which has integral; enlarged bosses which are tapped to provide threaded sockets for the attachment of the cleats.

All of these prior art devices have serious disadvantages. An important one is that such arrangements greatly reduce the resilience of the sole, which should be as high as possible when a player is running, consistent with sufiicient stifiness to maintain the cleats or treads in position. A further important disadvantage of such prior artstructures is that the weight of the shoe is greatly increased'by providing special sockets, studs; or other attaching devices for each cleat. Obviously, the weight of an athletic shoe should be as low as possible. Still another disadvantage of such devices lies in the excessive Y cost ofmaterials and labor,

I have discovered, after extensive experimentation, that a resilient spring-steel plate will serve adequately for the anchorage .of detach able cleats or tread members of any type without e the use of any intermediate attaching device '5 such as have heretofore been considered necessary by those skilled'in this art. I have thus been able to produce ashoe'fully as rugged and eflicient as anyof the prior art structuresbut considerably lighter in weight, more flexible, less expensive to fabricate, and possessing numerous other advantages such as will readily appear to those skilled in the'art. I

My invention will be more clearly apprehended I I by referring to the attached drawingillustrating certain" embodiments of my invention," wherein: I

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a football shoe embodying my invention, 'partQOf the shoe v being cut away to illustrate the construction more clearly.

Figure2 is a perspective view of a football cleat of the type shown attached to the shoe in Figure'l.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of the sole of the shoe shown'in Figure 1.

' Figure 4 is "an enlarged detailed section through the sole of the shoe of Figure '1, and' an attached cleat.

' Figure '5 is a fragmentary side elevation of anothertype of shoe embodying my invention which is especially useful for running," golf, mountain climbing,'logging, or' other activities where a sharp grip is desired, part of the shoe being cut away to show the connection between the cleat and sole.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the form of tread member shown attached to the shoe in Figure 5. l

Figure 7 is a bottom plan view of the sole of 40 a baseball shoe embodying my invention.

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line'8-'8of Figure 7, and

Figure 9 is a fragmentary sectional view of one form of screw forming an element of my invention.

Referring first to Figures 1-4, inclusive, the numeral l0 indicates. a football shoe having an upper l2 and a sole [3. A heel tap l4 and a sole tap l5 are preferably provided and secured to the sole l3 by means of stitching IE or other suitable means. The upper l2 may be secured to the sole by means of stitching I! in the usual manner. There is also provided the usual insole .18 and sock-lining I9. 66

The sole is provided with a steel plate, indicated at 20, which may be secured to the sole at any suitable point, as on the outside, inside, or interior. I prefer to embed the plate 20 between the sole I3 and the tap l5, but it will be understood that the location and arrangement of the plate may vary considerably. The plate, as shown in Figure 3, may follow the general contour of the sole .or, if desired, the plate may be skeletonized to increase'fiexibi-lity or may take various other shapes. A similar plate 20 is arranged in the heel as shown in Figure 1.

The plates 20 and 20' are preferably formed of very thin and highly resilient tempered springsteel, such as will readily return to its normal shape when bent or otherwise distorted, without taking a permanent set. Said plates may be of any gauge or thickness to give the desired resilience. For example, a thickness of .017 to .025 inch is preferred.

Attached to the shoe sole are a plurality of cleats indicated generally by the numeral 23. These cleats comprise a molded frusto-conical member 24 which may be formed of hard rubber or a rubber-fiber mixture, bakeli-te, or any other desired .or suitable plastic material, such as is well known in this art. Embedded i-n the molded :member 24 is a stud-26 which may beprov-ided with annular grooves 21 or other deformations designed to improve the bond between the stud and the molded member. Extending beyond the molded member 24*the stud is provided with-an integral screw portion 28, and disposed contiguous to the'surface 'of the molded member-24 is 'an integral annular washer-like member 29 extendi-ng a substantial wdistance laterally of the stud. The edge of the member 29 may be serrated as rshown'in Figure 2 at, for facilitatingengagemerit-of a rotating tool. This washer-"like member may also be provided with dimples 3| or other deformations projecting into the molded member 24 for reducing any tendency of :rotation betweenthemolded member :andthe "stud 25.

The threads of the screw 28 are preferably :of a relatively flat pitch. :say about '18 threads .per inch. and,':althoughthis screw may have a stand- :ard formiof'thread, su'ch'as UPS. Standard or V, it is preferred to use a special thread which'is relatively flat on its lower face 32. "Il'iisthread' maybe what is known as'a buttress thread. but inthe embodimentshown in Figure 9, the "lower face 32h'as a'slo'o'eof about 10 'from'a plane per- 'pendicular"to the axis of 'the thread. while the upper face 32" has "a slope of about'BO". In'the standard buttress "thread, one faceis absolutely fiat while the other face slopes at 45. Such a threadfacilitates ready engagement in the apertureprovided in the steel plate 20. .and, furthermore, improves the anchorage of the cleats.

1 Asshown at33"(Figure 4) "the platen is preferably taopedat ap ropriate points to receive the threaded studs 28, "the tap being preferably of a pitch corresponding to that of thescrew 28, whereby said" screw will readily engage with said aperture.

Shoes embodying my invention, as above described, have been put to severe tests and it has been found that cleats secured in the manner described are anchored so firmlythat they can- 7 not be dislodged or loosened, even when subjected to severe abuse.

Referring to Figure "5, there is here shown a .shoe'indicated generally by the numeral 58, which is suitable for golf, track, climbing, lumbering, and various other activities. This shoe comprises upper 5|, and a sole 52 carrying an embedded spring-steel plate 53. This shoe is provided with tread members 55 having a ground-engaging or,

spike portion 56, a threaded portion 51, and an intermediate annular or washer-like portion 58, the edge of which may be serrated as at 59. The portion 51, as seen clearly in Figure 5, threadedly engages the metal plate 53, the latter being preferably tapped to receive .it, as described above for the football shoe.

, Figure 7 illustrates a baseball shoe sole 60 embodying my invention. In this case the sole tap 62 has secured thereto a tread member or spike, indicated at 64, of the usual or other suitable design for baseball, said member being secured to the sole 'by means of headed screws or studs 65 which "extend through apertures in the spike 64 and in the sole and threadedly engage tapped apertures in a steel plate 61 embedded in the sole in a manner similar to the other embodiments. "Obviously, the heads of the screws 65 are disfposed :flush against the outside of the spike 64 so as to retain the latter firmly seated against the sole'of the shoe. 1

While I have disclosed only a few embodiments of my invention,.it will be -ebvious that the latter .m-aytak'e numerous other :forms and may be used forattaching cleats or treads of various other designs.

It will be obvious that although the treads are secure against accidentaldetachmentor displace- :ment, they may readily be removed for replacement when broken or worn orfor converting a shoe'for a different sport -or activity, merely by unscrewing the old studs and applying new ones. It will also be seen that shoes embodying my invention have maximum flexibilityand lightness with perfect anchorage of the treads,-and Without anyof the cumbersome auxiliary anchoring devices ofthe prior art, which add weight to the 5 shoe, reduce flexibility and entail possible injury to the-foot of the wearer.

I am aware that it has previously been pro- :posed to-screw treads into a tapped metalplate of substantial thickness and weight and lacking in flexibility, 'in a shoe sole '(Borrett Patent 320,328, June'16, 1885). However, I believe that I'am the first to secure adetachabl'e tread to a thin, flexible metal plate in a'shoe sole in the manner and for the purposes described.

Various other modifications will no doubt sug I :gest themselves to'those skilled inthe art. Hence, I do not wish to be limited to the particular embodiments shown or uses mentioned except to the extent indicated by'the appended claims, which are to be interpreted as broadly as the state of the art will permit.

I claim as my invention:

1. An athletic shoe comprising a non-metallic tread member, a'relatively thin spring steel plate above and substantially coextensive "with said member and having a plurality of threaded aperupper-surface of said plate, anda ground-engaging element engaging the exposed surface of said tread member and having a screw retained by engagement in said aperture and with said tread and sole members.

3. An athletic shoe comprising a non-metallic tread member, a relatively thin spring-steel plate above said member and having an aperture formed for threaded engagement with a screw,

and a ground-engaging element having a screw engaged in saidaperture, the pitch length of said screw being greater than the thickness of said plate and said plate being engaged substantially entirely between the crests of consecutive turns of the thread of said screw.

4. An athletic shoe comprising a non-metallic tread member, a relatively thin spring-steel plate above said member and having an aperture formed for threaded engagement with a screw, and a ground-engaging element having a screw engaged in said aperture, the pitch length of said screw being greater than the thickness of said plate and said plate being engaged substantially entirely between the crests of consecutive turns of the thread of said screw, a portion of said plate at said aperture being tilted upward in engagement with a downwardly facing side of the thread of said screw.

ISADORE SHAPIRO. 

